Butterflies and bits of art

Over the half term holiday a few weeks ago I spent a little bit of time doing a bit of painting. A few years ago I did some butterfly inspired work and wanted to do a bit more.

In Progress - can you see the PVA glue?

These pieces are mostly acrylic paint and ink with a few mixed media bits thrown in too, such as netting, plastic and PVA glue.

Where I left them!

One of them has already found a home and you can see the image of it in situ in its new home at the top of the page.

Cute Culottes

I made culottes and the fit (kind of)!
I had seen the curved yoke culottes in the May issue of Burdastyle magazine, and thought they would be perfect for the summer.

 
I bought a cotton and linen mix fabric from 1st for Fabrics in Longbenton, which was a very well behaved fabric and comfy to wear.

The pattern is quite easy to sew up, as long as you know what you're doing with curved seams and only has 4 pattern pieces.

I made the size 38. I would normally go for a 40 at the hip and grade down to the waist, but these are wide and the 38 is fine. In fact it could do with just a smidge off the waist as I founf that the culottes teneded to slide down a little (as you can see in the picture) and a couple of cm off at the waist would prevent that from happening.

I've already made the adjustmwnt to the pattern and will be making at least one more pair this year.
I also think they'd be great shorter or made as full length wide trousers.

There is a side zip on the left, but I think a pocket on the right side would be useful, so will add one in next time.

The top is also Burdastyle cap sleeve crop top from 2015

Saturday Printmaking

 This weekend I had the privilege of joining some of my year 7 students at a printmaking workshop at the High School. The event was run by one of the High school teachers and a local artist Theresa Easton.

The students had opportunity to create a range of prints and then using the theme birds, collage the prints to create a 3D bird. The students also worked to create a flying bird style sculpture.

They had a fab time and also had opportunity to meet other students from the local feeder schools. Next time it will be the turn of year 8.

Crazy Cambie

I made a Cambie - yeah I know I'm a little late to the party, but I did get there in the end. This is my Crazy Cambie. It's actually a wearable muslin - as the only thing I actually bought was the zip.

A friend had given me the fabric a couple of years ago when she'd seen it in bargain corner at Ikea. The lining is a cotton sheet and the pattern was a gift.

The fabric is a thick cotton fabric, heavier than a normal cotton with a good texture, curtain weight I think. Pre washed at 40 as I know Ikea fabric does shrink.

I made the Cambie in size 6 and followed the instructions for the bodice. I made a couple of small chages to the skirt - pleating to reduce bulk at the waist and putting the pockets at the side seams rather than princess seams - the skirt is a bit less full than the gathered version, but the structure does give plenty of body. I also used a regular rather than an invisible zip. I didn't even try to pattern match as the pattern repeat was so large and quite a random design. I'm quite pleased with the over all effect.

I thought that the fit might be a bit tight, but after following the instructions exactly the bodice is actually a little big. It needs a couple of cm taking out of the waist and a bit off each side seam. I also found the sweetheart neck gaped a little. I'll be adjusting the pattern to pinch out a couple of cm from the neckline just where the sleeve joins.

My only issue with the instructions are that it is almost impossible to adjust once complete (without unpicking a huge amount). The waistband is in one piece. I may seam it at the sides to allow for adjustment next time.

I wore this to work today - not sure it was a good idea when doing ceramics with year 7 all day, but it survived, was comfy and despite the weight was cool to wear. The photos were taken after a day of work not too creased either! (iphone, so not really the best quality) Shoes are from ASDA - emergency purchase!

Soundtrack to the Cambie making:
Placebo, Clean Bandit, Alt-J, Broken Bells (well it was an all day epic).

So would you wear something this crazy? I love having something a bit unique - no one else has a dress quite like this?